Stack ‘em
H G H
Rebecca Manning,
grade eight.
Mary Coy
some of the requirements they
would have to meet in their upcoming project: totems.
The random items on each
table quickly prompted the
question “What’s this for?”
Typical of middle school
behavior, my eighth-grade students Inspiration
didn’t even wait for the answer The inspiration for this project
before they began to touch the plas- came about one day after having to
tic cups, scrap cardboard, colored refocus a student who was connect-wooden blocks, and other odd para- ing his markers end to end, creating
phernalia I had collected. a three-foot-
The opening task for the class: long utensil.
stack the items in four different (Sound famil-
arrangements. Two examples should iar?) After I
demonstrate symmetrical balance; gave him “the
two, asymmetrical. Each person at look” and a
the table would have a turn direct- half-hearted
ing the design of the structure while smile, he
the others helped. As far as the kids resumed his task, but the idea of
were concerned, they were just hav- stacking and connecting stayed
ing fun. I, on the other hand, was with me.
looking for opportunities to point Research on totems not only
out how their solutions mirrored deepened my understanding of
their meaning and value within the
Native American culture of the
Pacific Northwest, but also made
me curious about contemporary
totem forms. While searching
online, I came across the work of
two artists, John Dahlsen and Mar-
lene Ziegler, whose work reflects
the sense of design and personal
reflection I was seeking for this
project.
The major challenge for Preparation
students was the balance issue, and Planning
maintaining the stability of the Before begin-
overall form as it was built. ning the proj-
ect, students
viewed a
variety of totems and other verti-
cal sculptures (both traditional
and contemporary), examined the
use of space within and around the
forms, and evaluated how balance
was achieved within them. Stu-
